A large variety of different types of electrical connectors exist for joining the individual wires in a first cable with the individual wires in a second cable. Although many of these connectors are satisfactory for their intended purposes, many have limitations which reduce their usefulness for some purposes. The two sections of the connector have usually been secured together by a threaded nut, etc. This requires a considerable amount of manual manipulation to mate the sections, i.e., screwing the parts together, etc. This can be a time consuming operation. Moreover, if the connector is located in an inaccessible location which is difficult to reach, the mating and threading together of the sections can be very difficult. In those connectors which have a large number of individual electrical contacts which must be forced together during mating, the loads on the individual parts of the sections have been high. As a consequence, some parts of the connector sections such as the locking mechanisms have failed prematurely. In addition, these large forces have made it difficult to fully mate all of the electrical contacts.
More recently it has been proposed to employ an improved connector of the type disclosed and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 287,184 entitled "ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR" filed Oct. 7, 1972 in the names of Larry L. McCormick and Ben L. Selk and assigned of record to G & H Technology Inc. In this improved electrical connector a breech lock is provided for securing the two sections together. This has greatly simplified the use of the connector, particularly the mating and unmating thereof.